Director of the Armenian Institute for International Security Stepan Safaryan says Azerbaijan may take advantage of the situation in Armenia and start escalating tensions on the line of contact of the Artsakh and Azerbaijani armed forces.
Talking to reporters on June 29, Safaryan said the Azerbaijani propaganda is yielding its positions; diplomats and politicians fail to push through their 'anti-Armenian' ideas at international organizations. "Ilham Aliyev has fears that Nagorno Karabakh may be 'Kosovized' and seeks to denounce the Madrid principles. In this light, the anti-Armenian propaganda has intensified," he said. Baku hopes that Armenia will be weakened by the domestic crisis, Safaryan said. He is sure that tension in the Karabakh conflict zone is in favor of Russia. "Increasing and reducing the risks of resumption of the military actions, Moscow tries to increase in influence on Yerevan and Baku," he said.
The public services watchdog adopted the decision to increase the electricity price by 6.93 drams on June 17 sparking thousands-strong protests in Armenia since June 19. ENA requested that the electricity price is increased by 17 drams.
On June 27, President Serzh Sargsyan said the Government will incur "the entire burden of the tariff increase." The president said ENA may be nationalized to be "transferred to competitive management." The president and the co-chair of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental committee, Transport Minister of Russia, Maxim Sokolov, arrived at a decision on the audit on June 26 in Yerevan.
David Haroutiunyan, Minister-Chief of the Government Staff, said audit of Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) may take 3-6 months.